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Marijuana Use in High School

About 40 percent of high school students have tried marijuana, although teenagers who take part in sports or other extracurricular activities are less likely to use the drug, a new study shows.

The findings are based on a survey of 4,097 Connecticut students in the ninth through 12th grades. Although the research is not a nationally representative sample, the results are similar to other national studies and offer a glimpse into the recreational life of a high school student.

The survey, which included 1,906 boys and 2,191 girls, found that while about 40 percent of girls and boys had ever tried marijuana, regular use was also common. In the study, about one in five girls and slightly more than one in four boys reported having used marijuana in the past month. The study was published in The Journal of Addiction Medicine.

The most likely users were 11th and 12th graders, as well as teenagers who had average grades in the B to C range or lower. Teenagers in single-parent households were more likely to report marijuana use than those in two-parent homes.

High school students who took part in sports or extracurricular activities were less likely to use the drug than those without any after-school activities. The exception was teenagers who were employed. Students who reported having a job outside of school were more likely to have used marijuana than those who were unemployed.

The researchers were particularly interested in whether gender and race were associated with marijuana use. They found that Caucasian girls in the study were at highest risk for use, compared with girls of other races. Asian-American girls were the least likely to have used the drug. Among boys, African-American students were most likely to have used marijuana compared to those of other races.

Not surprisingly, various risky behaviors like gambling, drinking, fighting, steroid use and smoking cigarettes were all associated with higher risk for using marijuana. Depression and self-harm behaviors like cutting were also associated with marijuana use.

Although marijuana use is often dismissed as a benign rite of passage among young people, researchers note that the high rate of use is concerning, given that the brains of high school students are still developing.

“There is considerable evidence that it’s not just an innocent sort of thing,” said the lead author, Ty S. Schepis, assistant professor of psychology at Texas State University in San Marcos. “This is a period of strong change in the brain. We’re very concerned that marijuana alters the ways in which adolescent brains normally mature, particularly among heavy users.”

TPP suggests several times in this post that 40% is a high number. She also writes that many people consider marijuana use is a rite of passage. I think the real message here is that it is not in fact a rite, it seems many kids do not try pot and that as parents we may be able to influence our kids.

Still, it would be interesting to know what percentage of kids graduate from high school not having tried pot. I would expect a great deal of change from children in this age range.

If alcohol is legal, if nicotine is legal, then THC should be legal. The anti-pot rhetoric is out of control. You will do more damage to your brain and body by drinking one beer a day than smoking one joint a day. No, I don’t do either, but I’m a neuroscientist. That ethanol is legal in any form to be consumed is an outrageous failing on the part of our regulators, but it’s been legal so long that no one wants to ban it.

The prohibitions against pot are a leftover from the racist machinations of the early 1920s, when anything consumed by minorities became immediately illegal; the pushback from the cotton industries didn’t help much, either. Now marijuana is demonized as a gateway drug.

Well guess what? If you really want to cut down drug use, ban alcohol and cigarettes. Oh wait, we can’t.

Presumably the main reason kids on sports teams don’t use marijuana is that they are being tested for it. In my experience, they make up for this by drinking a lot of alcohol. I see no reason to think that this is an improvement, from a health or societal perspective.

All this study seems to have discovered is that if you test kids for marijuana they will drink alcohol instead.

Ok. Someone is going to inevitably say “That’s why they call it HIGH school!”

Blog: “Teenagers in single parent households were more likely to report marijuana use than those in two-parent homes.”

There’s that pesky “single parent home” factor/culprit, rearing its undeniable head again. And MJ is but one of the drugs used and abused in single parent homes. The stats also apply to hash, LSD, cocaine, crack, meth, ecstasy, opiates and heroin… and of course, almost goes without saying, alcohol.

Blog: “Students who reported having a job outside of school were more likely to have used marijuana than those who were unemployed.”

Of course… they’ve got the dough. It doesn’t hurt the popularity status either, when the guy/girl with the bag of Hydro shows up at the party or smoke-in. The one with the “bag”, is “in”, with the “in’s”.

Blog: “teenagers who take part in sports or other extracurricular activities are less likely to use the drug, a new study shows.”

I believe this to be at least generally true. Yet, when I played HS baseball and football, perhaps one third of the team(s) indulged, and not exclusively off and away from the field. Sneaking off under the stands for a couple of tokes just before the game was not unordinary. I’m not saying it’s right, and I’m not advocating it, but those of us that sometimes did this, were stand-out performers, and usually had a “Stellar” game as a result. It was a result of heightened focus. Certainly not for everybody.

As for extracurricular activities, it obviously depends upon the nature of the activity, or type of club.

Notwithstanding all of this, it’s easy for them to get… if they have the $$$. That’s why the kid with the cash that can get is so popular. I can’t prove it, but my hunch is that the use is actually higher than the study mentions. They readily lie on surveys, usually towards “not” admitting to certain behaviors, as opposed to exaggerating behaviors.

Parents who think that it’s not in middle-school are deluding themselves… especially in inner city urban middle-schools.

According to the National Institute on Drug
Abuse’s “Monitoring the Future” survey…

“Marijuana use by students in 8th, 10th and 12th grades has gone up from last year.

The study found that *13.7* percent of 8th-graders, 27.5 percent of 10th-graders and 34.8 percent of 12th-graders use the drug annually. These percentages are all up from the 2009 study, with 12th-graders showing the highest rise with a 2.1 percent increase. More than 46,000 students participated in the study.”

And what the 8th graders are doing, a % of the 7th graders will also do… and so on. If the concern is in regards to the level of effect(s) upon the brain development of HS level kids… what about middle-school?

While I support the full legalization of marijuana, I feel like it’s inappropriate for teens to be using the drug while their minds are still developing. Negotiating homework, sports, and extracurriculars is challenging enough without throwing in an extra few hours of daily demotivation. Our high-school-aged child is in Big Trouble if she gets caught smoking while she is a minor living under our roof.

Note that a large reason for kids who are involved in extracurriculars not to do drugs is that they get kicked off the team/out of the club if they get caught. This is very clearly spelled out in all the materials we receive for our child’s extracurriculars, and I certainly support this policy.

I find it partially amusing and partially upsetting that using marijuana is lumped in with “risky behaviors” like fighting, using steroids, gambling and cutting. Propaganda much?

And, um, if the researcher is really that concerned about the effects that pot has on the adolescent mind, maybe he should be researching those effects instead. You know, put some data behind the concern.

“Our high-school-aged child is in Big Trouble if she gets caught smoking while she is a minor living under our roof.”

I’m not being facetious Emily when I say, “Really?” And neither am I being facetious when I ask, “What’s ‘Big Trouble’ for a female teen in HS, in 2011? And are you talking about MJ, tobacco, both? Or does it matter?

I’m trying to envision the ‘Big Trouble’ that will prevent her from “ever” again even thinking about smoking.

Let’s see. Big Trouble. You can “ground” her. Inconvenient for sure, but not exactly earth shattering, and most likely will drive her to being even more “rebellious” and resentful, hence increasing the possibility of her smoking, if for no other reason than in her private mind it’s her way of saying “I’m going to do what I want.

What else. Take away the iPhone? That’ll put her into withdrawal-like fits to be sure, but it’s not a definitive behavior change motivator… at least not deep down. Kids have a way of realizing that if they say what we adults and parents want to hear… then they’ll get the phone back… and continue their behavior, being more stealthy and careful. No? Perhaps teens that you’ve been exposed to somehow have become less astute at “The Game”.

Take away the laptop? She needs it for school. Pull her off of Facebook? She’ll just set up under a nom de plume and use her friends access. Pull her off of the swim team? That’s only exacerbating the situation ala shooting oneself in ones own foot. Take away TV? Another withdrawal-like situation. Cancel the Big Ski Trip? That’s ought to get her to permanently change her behavior. How about a “spanking”? You’ll end up being investigated by Child Services. That’d be nice, wouldn’t it?

Kick her out from “under your roof”? Ain’t going to happen and you know it.

What’s left? Oh!

And finally. How about the number 1 solution, (truly Big Trouble) as advocated by many Well commenter’s (See Well entry “Less Talk, More Medicine” and other entries), force her to see a therapist for her aberrant and dangerous behavior, and have her be put on a medication that will address her “low-self-esteem… because lord knows, she has to have low-self-esteem to have smoked MJ, or whatever.

Possibly by the time that she graduates, years later, from law school, her therapy regimen will be over, and she’ll be acculturated just fine…. Except that she may be second-guessing herself for the rest of her life.

Who knows. She might even put that law degree to use. Kids do sue their parents nowadays. Who better than a kid turned attorney.

We could well get rid of cigarette smoking. Everyone, including young people aware of the dangers involved in smoking cigarettes and there is a witch hunter after smokers which greatly reduced their numbers in recent decades, so where have we failed in transferring the message about drug use?
Is that youth revolt or is it due to loss of parental authority? I really hope it is a passing phenomenon.//www.lifestyle-after50.com

“Is that youth revolt or is it due to loss of parental authority? I really hope it is a passing phenomenon.”

Youth will rebel, always did and always will, to varying degrees. They cast off the perceived shackles of the generation preceding them, and some of the morays of their own parents, striving to establish their own individuality. Such is life. But you know this.

Parental authority. It’s an endangered species, usually losing its grip (if it ever even manifested itself at all), before or somewhere near puberty… especially in this day and age. Been to a “child-friendly” restaurant lately? Bring ear-plugs and blinders.

Passing phenomena. Don’t think so. Mary Jane, and other substances are here to stay. Like it or not, and for good or ill. On the other hand, (getting back to parental authority), parental authority does fall into the category of “passing phenomena”.

And as to your comparative between cigarette smoking and Mary Jane and other substances, there’s one main difference. Marijuana is a substance, that for some, including teens, that is fun… to put it simply. It heightens awareness and sensitivity. They get stoned, laugh, talk, listen to music, maybe have sex, and then eat. Then repeat.

Cigarettes don’t have that ability, or allure. Plus they stink. One of the best put-downs that I ever heard in high school came from a jock, to a girl at a party. She commented, snidely, that the cologne he was wearing was passé. He said back to her… “I love your perfume though. What is it? Eau de Nicotine?” She, obviously smoked cigarettes… and she also was rightfully humiliated. Hilarious. Everyone laughed… even the smokers.

This doesn’t work with MJ. Nor do similar tactics.

I hate to be the harbinger of this news, but very little that society can, and does say, will have little effect upon a kid’s decision to smoke pot or not.

When they’re of HS age, (actually much younger), and out of the watchful eyes of mommy and daddy… they’re their own person(s). And for those of you who say, “I wasn’t my own person when not around mommy and daddy!”… I say, “Good for you Pollyanna!. Here. Let me put a gold-star on your forehead. You literally are 1 in 1,000,000!”.

Then there’s the other 999,999 of the rest of us.

RE: “various risky behaviors like gambling, drinking, fighting, steroid use and smoking cigarettes were all associated with higher risk for using marijuana.”

Potheads are rarely given to “violent” behavior. Gangs don’t prep for a “rumble” with another gang by smoking MJ. If they did… they’d call off the fight. Possibly combining it with crack, and alcohol… then yes. But pot alone tends to create introspection, and lends to exhibiting a non-confrontational demeanor.

As for gambling… how much money does the average 11th grader have? For the rest of the behaviors on the list… I don’t really buy the correlative association.

RC, your straw-man argumen ts aren’t even subtle. The fact is, we know our child and understand what level of discipline is appropriate for her. In our house, Big Trouble translates to an expression of disappointment in her behavior (which she takes seriously) and loss of priveleges related to the offense until we feel we can trust her again.

You bet that we have talked to her calmly and intelligently about drug/tobacco/alcohol use, from more of a “respect yourself and make good choices” perspective, rather than the prevailing DARE/ONDCP progaganda scare-tactic spew.

Teenagers are people, albeit people whose decision-making chops are not yet fine-tuned. Our job is to help her navigate these years. We are not martinets, nor are we laissez-faire. Rather, we are fair, involved, and firm.

Despite our best efforts to guide her, of course she could still end up sneaking a toke (or 10) before she’s an adult and able to make adult-level decisions. If she does it, the world will not end — mine certainly didn’t. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t still set appropriate boundaries, expectations, and consequences for her behavior.

Sure, our methods may not work for every kid, but we don’t have every kid — we have ours.

Ah, yes, the pot smokers are out in full force. Is there an alert system that lets you know when someone has written an article about the dangers of marijuana? Sorry — it is not good for developing brains to smoke pot, drink alcohol, or take other drugs.

“Ah, yes, the pot smokers are out in full force. Is there an alert system that lets you know when someone has written an article about the dangers of marijuana?”

Yes indeed. It’s called Google news. But it also clues me nto stories of the benefits of cannabis, as well as the when bald faced lies, half truths, and hysterical rhetoric
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“Sorry — it is not good for developing brains to smoke pot, drink alcohol, or take other drugs.”

Who the heck are you talking to? There’s no one here promoting the use of cannabis by school children.

But on my side of the table:

We know that in Holland youth use is 1/3 that of the United States.

We’ve been able to cause substantial reduction in the rate of youth cigarette and drinking alcohol use by implementing the requirement for the merchant to card buyers of either or to lose his business license. Coupled with using the truth rather than the absurd pack of lies that the Know Nothings regurgitate. Kids aren’t stupid. When you lie to them they’re going to figure it out in short order and the only thing you’ve achieved is a total loss of your credibility. So they catch you lying about cannabis, someone offers them cocaine and the teenage mind is always going to think, “well they lied about pot, cocaine is probably not as bad as advertised.

Ditto for booze. Survey after survey finds teens noting that it’s much easier to obtain cannabis and pharmaceuticals than drinking alcohol or tobacco.

The most annoying thing when the Know Nothing prohibitionists pull out the argumentum ad liberi fallacy is that they most obnoxiously claim to be doing stuff for the sake of the children when we have ample evidence that methods other than absolute prohibition work much better If there were true concern for the children among the Know Nothings they’d support the programs that are proven to work instead of staying married to the demonstrable, epic failure of public policy which we still call the war on (some) drugs.

If you really cared about the children you would not promote a scheme that causes youth use to triple. You do not have the moral high ground; more accurately you and your prohibitionist policies are morally bankrupt.

Keep kids busy, active and involved in satisfying pursuits, either creative, athletic or academic and these same kids will not be “needing” to get “high”. I have a 9th grade boy. He has no need for such things. When I was his age I was already waist deep in them!

I’m so glad I grew up Orthodox. It was so easy. I was so sheltered .There was zero availability of drugs, at least among my friends, and there appeared to be no interest. Perhaps it’s because they had us in classes in Yeshiva from 8 a.m until 4 when we were in first grade, and in high school, until at LEAST 5 p.m. !!
We had a dual curriculum; fully double the classes that kids who went to public school did. I was shocked to and envious when I found out that there were children who got out of school at 1 in the afternoon. When you have an average of 12 subjects at a time, with multiple tests and papers every week, there’s no time to do drugs if you’re going to go to college, and there was and 100% of the class went on to college.
Perhaps that is the answer? Increase the demands on high school students. It might sound far fetched, but I doubt Amy Chua’s daughters smoke pot.

Smoking Pot in High School? Why? I was a misfit in my high school. The only people who would accept me were the potheads. Ironically, I was also an athlete, who competed nationally and won.The only way I could keep my coach and father from forcing me to live out their dreams was to get high.
If you want your child to be drug free, then make your children your priority–not an extension of yourself, but to like who they are and value who they will become. Be empathetic, not enabling! if I had felt that I had anything of value to contribute to my community, I would have been less likely to do drugs. And yes, I taught Sunday School, ran a peer counseling group, and volunteered at sports events.

“Despite our best efforts to guide her, of course she could still end up sneaking a toke (or 10) before she’s an adult and able to make adult-level decisions. If she does it, the world will not end — mine certainly didn’t. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t still set appropriate boundaries, expectations, and consequences for her behavior.”

No argument here regarding that statement Emily. That’s about all a parent, in these, our current times, can do. You, and your daughters father are to be commended for having that level of awareness, and level of dedication to the realities. If more parents had at least that level of involvement and commitment, this country would have more reason to be optimistic regarding the future of our youth.

I will add this. Categorizing something as a straw-man argument, is itself a straw man riposte, to attempt to negate an opposing point of view that one doesn’t agree with… and doesn’t necessarily detract from the tangible substance of a proposed opinion or stance.

A straw man is a component of an argument, and is an informal fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent’s position. A re-perusal of my partially satirical diatribe will show that I was not misinterpreting, nor misrepresenting your comment. It boiled down to, “What’s Big Trouble for a 2011 teen girl?”

Your civil response answers, “In our house, Big Trouble translates to an expression of disappointment in her behavior (which she takes seriously) and loss of priveleges related to the offense until we feel we can trust her again.”

I asked… you answered. And that’s really what it was ultimately about. Primarily, I was amused, and am amused, by the means by which kids today are “induced” to hopefully behave with some modicum of good judgment and rationality. My comment was more about that aspect, than your actual personal parenting process. But your answer is welcome, and other parents, I hope, will benefit from it.

I admit, that I’m skeptical regarding the ability of parents and society having any more than a minor/negligible impact upon HS level teens in regards to MJ, and other behaviors. A minor impact for the positive is better than none at all. You sound like you have a good handle on your own situation, and as you mentioned, “… we don’t have every kid — we have ours.”

This article is absurd. Yes smoking weed will change the way you think but no one is prone to it, it is not a disease or cancer. You CAN”T be at risk of smoking weed just because of your race or gender.

Second, depression and self harm are not cause by marijuana, associated like the article says yes, but it gives the notiono that it is the underlying reason. If we are going by association then it could be said that relationships, work, parenting, being parented, hard decisions such as what kind of insurance provides better benefits at a lower price are all associated with self harm and depression.

Marijuana in fact is the least dangerous of all illicit substances, alcohol is legal and yet kills more people each year than anyother subtance statistic combined. When was the last time you heard of someone overdosing on marijuana? That’s because you cannot physically do so, sure people have gone to hospitals before claiming that they were dying but it is the result of the feeble minded who cannot handle their own anxiety and stress. Marijuana is actually looked down upon by society so much that the biased opinion restricts us from researching the incredible amounts of positive things marijuana can do. All the people such as the writer for this article hear about one bad thing and that is it, all focus is on the negativity. I do not recall seeing anything on tv today about faulty toyotas, actually i see brand new ones everyday. Know why? Because people are not ignorant to the things that their new car can do and realize that people make mistakes, even toyota. Now the same exact concept is applied to marijuana except no body is willing to give the research a chance. Just immediately shoot it down with ignorance. It is really repulsive the amouont of people that write this kind of stuff, where is all the information about real problems such as prescription drugs that are bought and sold like candy. Heroin which has been the epidemic, more purity and at a cheaper price, sounds like Frank Lucas is back. Cocaine and meth and on and on and on. But noooo weed is bad! My child was scared and paranoid. Well I hope that I do not have to read about a child that was drunk driving and hit a bus, I hope i do not have to read about another heroin overdose, Do not want to read about the terror some teenager caused when trying PCP. I think you people out there and reading this article that are so set on displaying the dangers of marijuana should take a stap back and do something useful. If you ever smoked marijuana then you know it was not the evil you portray it to be now. but the dope and coke and pills are all the same evils they have always been and will stay that way. Educate the public on something worth reading.

While no drug use at all is the ideal, it is likely that young people want to try something, just to have fun with friends, to feel something different and enjoyable.

In the late 60s, it was a rite of passage. I’ve come to dislike using it because I find that the day following I’m more irritable, and any kind of work seems, well, annoying. I imagine it could have an effect on a teenager’s perseverance, in accomplishing what high school requires.

Just a footnote. Some seem to feel that these forums are a place for a mini dissertation. Frankly, after the first few paragraphs, my mind drifts … or is that some effect after the fact ….

This article is a completely worthless, well-camouflaged piece of propaganda.

If the reesarchers are so concerned about the effect of marijuana on “developing minds,” let them provide actual evidence or let them keep quiet about their concerns.

The “association” between marijuana and risky behaviors like “cutting” is *so* far from being evidence of a causal relationship, that it should be considered a violation of journalistic ethics to even mention this. (Ask any expert in statistics. The absence of this crucial expertise has severely marred a huge number of articles in this newspaper.)

Finally, it is ridiculous and highly misleading to examine usage of marijuana without equally examining the use of alcohol. This asymmetry is the surest sign of propaganda.

Or, nevermind that these statistics are dependent on kids telling the truth. I am a high school teacher, and when my students are asked (required, nagged) to take drug use surveys, they have all kinds of fun making up all kinds of stuff. I think we need to stop worrying about how many are using because we’ll never really know, and worry instead about providing all of them with meaningful alternatives. Kids don’t have enough meaningful things to do. I’d take drugs too if all I had to live for was TV, video games, the next sex-crazed show like “Skins,” and if Cosmopolitan Magazine were my choice of reading material.

Dr Well has tarnished his personal credentials. No need to go further. But I will.
First there is little evidence of anything. Therefore there is opinion. Cool, the good Dr doesn’t want kids to experience pot.
If he was in a community with kids growing up I’m betting he hopes the kids would smoke it some place safe. Therefore he’d overlook the parents actually taking the chances to allow a little smoking if the drinking is well hid and minimal and zero tolerance of narcotics. Of course this would make him a hypocrite.
The fact that obvious pot smokers have responded to this article with well reasoned remarks shows the Dr.’s attempt as feeble.